Heitman International, Jones Lang LaSalle, Skanska and Ballymore Group were multiple winners at the annual CEEQA Gala in Warsaw on March 1, and the house rose to its feet as Carl Panattoni, one of the global real estate industry's younger legends, received the event's banner award for Lifetime Achievement in Real Estate from previous laureate Eli Alroy of GTC.

Tributes were paid to Marcin Kania, a Partner at Colliers International Poland.

However the most moving moment of the evening was when the 530-strong crowd of business leaders from more than 30 countries rose to its feet to pay tribute to Marcin Kania, a Partner at Colliers International Poland, following a recent tragic accident, with a minute of applause. Later in the evening a charity raffle and Xbox competition raised more than 9,000 for CEEQA's chosen charity, the Bator Tabor Foundation, which provides camps for chronically ill children in central Europe.

The eighth edition of the sector's main annual industry awards, organized by CEE Insight Forum in association with the Financial Times at the Warsaw Marriott Hotel, was attended by more than 500 business leaders from across Europe gathered to honor achievements in the emerging Europe real estate sector in 2010. The awards are nominated by the sector and judged by a panel of senior representatives of leading companies active in 18 countries across Central and Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe. This was the first year CEEQA's award coverage included the Southeast Europe markets.

Otis Spencer, Co-Head of Europe for Heitman International collected the award for Investor of the Year in the Company Awards section and later returned to the podium to be named Industry Professional of the Year, one of the event's Grand Awards. Skanska also picked up two awards, as Skanska Property were rewarded for their overall engagement and commitment to sustainable development with the Green Initiative Award, while the construction management arm of Skanska Construction received the award for Construction Company of the Year.

Also in the Company Awards section GTC picked up the award for Developer of the Year for the second year running, while Salans led a strong field to the title of Legal & Consulting Firm of the Year. UniCredit landed the Banking & Financial Services Company of the Year award and IVG took the award for Industrial Developer of the Year. The architects Chapman Taylor won the award for Development Services Company of the Year and Skanska were the winners of the Construction Company of the Year.

The Agent Award section provided unexpected wins for Colliers International in the Retail Agency category and for King Sturge in the Office Agency category, while traditional heavyweight Jones Lang LaSalle scooped the awards for both Capital Markets and Industrial Agency.

In the Project Awards section the Office Development of the Year award was given to The Lakeside project in Bucharest, developed by AIG/Lincoln, which was the first BREEAM certified office building in Romania (Very Good rating). The Hotel Hilton Gdansk in Poland, developed by FIZ Forum III/